It’s been a tough couple of days for local London magazine Boyz. The weekly free publication which informs scene queens which events are happening each day came under fire after promoting anti-trans alliance LGB.

Editor David Bridle has since come forward saying it was… an oversight?

“On behalf of Boyz magazine I wish to apologise to all our readers, venues and advertisers for the publicity we have given to the LGB Alliance.

“We recognise that many of our readers and supporters will have been deeply upset by our promotion of tonight’s LGB Alliance webinar.

“We genuinely believed we were trying to help heal a schism in the community. This was a mistake and we are sorry. The LGB Alliance does not have our support.”

Since the promotional mess-up, which managed to run through the entire of November undetected, (maybe an indication of how many people are actually reading the magazine), a number of advertisers severed ties with them… as the entire QX team cackle into their coffees.

It’s worth noting that these were not subtle anti-trans tweets either…

In a statement, Bridle begged for forgiveness:

“We will try our best to make up the damage to our relationship with the LGBT community and especially the trans community,” Bridle continued in the statement.

“We got it wrong. Please forgive us.” Adding that he’s set-up a meeting with Mermaids to “improve our reporting on trans issues”.

Kinda simple, just don’t liaise with hate-groups… no? If you need a third-party to tell you that, then you probably shouldn’t be in journalism.

Or if you’re a magazine which is that desperate for money that you don’t research the company you’re taking cheques from then perhaps it’s time to call it a day.

Mermaids tweeted that Boyz has “apologised and listened”, and so we shouldn’t hold this against them forever, although it wouldn’t be the first time an old out-of-touch white man in a position of power made a cock-up, would it?

Not to speak specifically on Bridle, who has been head of Boyz for 29 years, but we see this all the time; stubborn middle-aged bosses which believe their way is the right way, despite everything we’ve achieved in the last 40 years.

Stubborn editors are the same ones who believe we still want to see skinny twinks and roidy circuit queens on the cover. That think because they’ve been running for a couple decades – despite minimal growth – that their traditional work methods are “successful”. And it’s not just editors, rich white men in their 50s are making decisions that impact our creative industries every day.

Two days my friend who works in fashion had his campaign idea rejected because it was “too cool”. During BLM a friend who works at a prominent lifestyle brand had to force his senior to issue a statement because they didn’t want to get political.

So if you think this oversight would’ve taken place with any queer millennial in charge – you’re wrong.

Boyz isn’t the first or last brand to have editors and owners that think they know best, but perhaps they can act as a cautionary tale to how a lack of awareness generally works out.